Register under the name "Will B. Counted"

It's Primary Election Day in Maryland.

I always hate to see Election Day roll around, because it means saying goodbye to some of my favorite television commercials. They are truly the apex of American advertising, these ads that a campaign runs showing their candidate strolling among the people, allowing the multitudes to be healed simply by touching the hem of their garment.

And then the opposition searches high and low for a picture taken right after the other candidate sneezed, making it look like they are the sort of person who would rip children from the arms of their impoverished parents.*

But 18,700 Maryland voters will be disappointed, should they show up at where they think they should be to vote, only to find that the state election authorities failed to update their records. Voters who changed their address or party affiliation on the Maryland MVA website or self-service kiosks at the MVA between April 22, 2017, and June 5, 2018 will find that the changes did not go through.

Oooopsie.

But affable Governor Larry Hogan wants you to know that all is well, and all votes will be counted.


“Every single person is going to be able to vote,” Hogan told Channel 13 over the weekend. “They’re doing everything they can to address it.  It shouldn’t have too much of an impact, but it’s an inconvenience.”

“There was a glitch between the MVA computer system and the state Board of Elections computer system,” Hogan told the news.

Politicians running for office on both sides of the primary ballot were quick to cry foul, and voter suppression, and disenfranchisement.

My thoughts are two:  how many of the 18,700 will even vote? It irks me every time there's an election how many people don't. It's one of the greatest things about America, and you should ask people from countries where voting isn't even an option if they would show up at the polls, given the chance.

The other is the term "computer glitch." I've worked with computers for many years, and while my expertise is not much above the level of "regular user," I got plenty of info from Info Tech techs, and their slogan was always "GIGO," meaning "garbage in, garbage out."

Don't blame a "computer glitch" if the people on the MVA computers failed to establish the proper interface with the people on the SBE computers, or, having set up the transfer of information, failed to enter it in the first place.

I'm just speculating here; I have no idea what happened. But I do doggone well know that when "they" want to get those tax bills and speed camera tickets mailed out, they make sure all the connections are in place.

It's an efficient system when people plan for something to happen, set it in motion, and then CHECK to make sure it happened!

Blaming your computer for having a glitch is the modern equivalent of "my dog ate my homework."


* Sometimes this one works.